Currently in D.C. — November 9, 2023: Partly cloudy and temperate

The weather, currently.

Today will be partly cloudy all day, although we’ll get a small sunny window at noon. Also, the weather favors us with an overall windchill sensation in the 60s, and a highest of 76°F.

Although the sun will be hiding most of the day, the good news is that we can take a moment to relax and find patterns in the clouds. And why not? Get a bit existentialist in the process. As the film critic Roger Ebert once said: "Clouds do not really look like camels or sailing ships or castles in the sky. They are simply a natural process at work. So too, perhaps, are our lives."

— Myriam Vidal Valero

What you need to know, currently.

According to the latest US drought monitor, California is now entirely drought-free for the first time since early 2020 — thanks to a series of beneficial rains brought in part by Hurricane Hilary and a growing El Niño.

Almost every major lake and reservoir in the state is currently filled higher than normal — a rarity for California in this era of megadrought. Some areas of the Sierra Nevada mountain range are more than 20 inches ahead in 2023 alone. The state also made it through peak wildfire season with hardly any major threats, thanks mostly to the wet soil.

In fact, state officials have begun to release extra capacity from California reservoirs to hold heavy rains that might come with El Niño this winter. The first potential atmospheric river of the season could arrive as early as this weekend.

— Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

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